A Wizard of Earthsea is back in stock

(Credit for noticing this goes to a vigilant member of the Facebook fans group.)

Several thousand copies seem to be in stock, so it is not just a few spare warehouse copies.

Perhaps this increases the chances that Tombs of Atuan or some other Earthsea stories will be part of the next collection.

As that vigilant member, I tip my hat and thank you for the credit. :)

Really hoping we get the next in the series!

It must be me, but I'm just not seeing it ... ?

I had to do a Google search to see it I couldn’t find it from the FS website.

https://www.foliosociety.com/uk/a-wizard-of-earthsea.html

>4 DMulvee:

Ah right, thanks. I can see it now. Never thought of Google.

Anyone have any idea why this vanished from FS's site after recently appearing?

>6 icewindraider:

FS claim it was a mistake. It's scheduled for later in the year but crept onto the website prematurely. Weirdly, people who ordered it during its brief appearance claim to have received their copies.

Furthermore there appears to be a slight redesign of the cover which irks some people.

>8 NLNils: Do you know what change they have made to cover?

It doesn't seem to appear on the Canadian site.

>9 assemblyman: If I had to guess, it would be changing the word "Folio" on the spine to the FS logo. But, that is pure speculation.

>11 icewindraider: The logo change is something they've done before for reprints and it's so baffling. I can't understand what could possibly be gained by it. And every collector with slight OCD is now going to be mildly annoyed every time they look at some sequence of books where one or two is off kilter.
Maybe that's the point?

>11 icewindraider: My guess too!

>11 icewindraider: I think they changed that in their last printing which I have and it has just the now standard FS logo.

>12 A.Godhelm:

Apparently, it's not enough these days to be a renowned publisher. You have to be a brand and brands have consistent logos. Consistent logos command brand loyalty. The fact that long-term Folio customers get annoyed is pure fantasy and science fiction. We are now brain-washed and probably spineless as well.

A Wizard of Earthsea is back up on the FS website for sale though it does not come up when you search for it on the website. Credit to someone on the Facebook Group for spotting it. The link below brings it up.

https://www.foliosociety.com/uk/catalog/product/view/id/1924/s/wizard-of-earthse...

Edited to add FS have now officially confirmed on Facebook that it is back in stock.

>15 boldface:

Another brain-washing example: my two most recent orders have featured a piece of advertising junk labelled 'free gift' in the online basket. Can taking your customers for fools be good business, even in the FS marketing world?

>17 assemblyman: Excited! I have the EP set, but love her work and love the other FS volumes of her work.

Folio is also teasing the sequel 'in the coming months' in their responses on Facebook

>19 RRCBS: >20 SolerSystem: Fingers crossed we will see The Tombs of Atuan later this year so. I do hope they keep David Lupton as illustrator as I think his style would be especially suitable for the next book.

>21 assemblyman: I do hope they keep David Lupton as illustrator

They're making a big thing about how much Le Guin liked the Wizard of Earthsea illustrations.

I’ve never read Le Guin. Anyone care to enlighten me why these books look so wonderful?

>23 ironjaw: I've read two books by Le Guin, The Wizard of Earthsea and The Left Hand of Darkness. I know that I may be labelled an apostate for this, but I wasn't impressed with either of them and have decided not to read any more of her books.

The Wizard of Eathsea I found to be aimed at a very young audience, and I unfortunately am not young. I prefer books for grown-ups. I did "read" it on audio during my daily commute, and the narrator/reader did a tremendous job with it though, probably the best reading performance I've encountered.

The Left Hand of Darkness was nothing short of a slog, and there was (as I recall) too much gender politics in it for my taste.

>23 ironjaw:
There was another Le Guin-related thread which might interest you:

https://www.librarything.com/topic/340320

>24 coynedj:
>25 Cat_of_Ulthar:

Thank you both for your comments. I normally don’t read fiction so would hate it if I ended up with a slog lol

The new FS listing for Wizard of Earthsea describes it as "The first volume in a quartet that has enchanted generations of readers and writers alike . . ." That description, coupled with FS's comments on Facebook today, indicate to me that they'll be publishing at least the first four books in the series, and keeping it in stock during the publication run.

>24 coynedj:
The Wizard of Earthsea was a children's book; when I taught it as part of a Forms of Fantasy course we used the Puffin Books version out of respect for students' slender means. It was unusual in showing respect for the intelligence of readers, and the series developed a credible philosophy that did no harm to young minds, and wasn't out of place in a university curriculum. If I had to, I would reread its spare prose before Tolkien. Not so the Left Hand of Darkness.

>23 ironjaw: I would suggest it makes sense to consider some comparison points. Hard to gauge preferences otherwise. Here are some books I would group together, roughly in terms of theme and/or style:

A Wizard of Earthsea
The Hobbit
Stardust
The Black Cauldron (and other Prydain novels)
The Crystal Cave (and other Mary Stewart Arthurian novels)

Le Guin science fiction is rather different. I think her sci-fi work might actually be somewhat like Heinlein in approach (though different politics).

>23 ironjaw:

Le Guin has a very distinct, precise writing style, which can be close to poetic in its best moments, and stands out amongst other fantasy and SF authors.

I already commented on why I loved the Left Hand of Darkness in the other thread: https://www.librarything.com/topic/340320#7788235

For A Wizard of Earthsea, it's just a very good fantasy story, and feels ahead of its time. Wizards and dragons with more nuance and depth then you expect, a cool archipelago world which I'd never seen before, and some beautiful scenes and moments.

It's not quite in the same league as the Hobbit of course, but it's short, excellent, and worth your time.

Thank you everyone for replying.

I received a Folio Society e-mail today referencing the Earthsea Series stating that all 6 novels and the short stories will be forthcoming.

Ursula K. Le Guin’s Earthsea series is our most requested fantasy series, so it’s thrilling to announce that all six novels and short stories will be published as Folio editions.

The stunning new edition of The Tombs of Atuan is now available and you will be able to add the remaining books to your collection, as we publish them.

>33 dfmorgan: Presumably they would continue to keep all of the novels in the series available to purchase while they continue to publish the remaining 4 books.

I would think there is a similar interest in them publishing the remainder of the Dune series.

I can see maybe the first three Dune books having the demand but recently read the 4th and promptly stopped the series.

>33 dfmorgan: I received a Folio Society e-mail today referencing the Earthsea Series stating that all 6 novels and the short stories will be forthcoming.

This Folio Life blog. Tom Walker on the coming series:

https://www.foliosociety.com/blog/this-folio-life-a-celebration-of-ursula-k-le-g...

>38 PrestigeWorldWide: God Emperor is definitely a polarizing book, but believe it or not, there's a sizable and very vocal contingent of fans who believe it to be the very best book in the series.

>39 folio_books: Wow, that's pretty cool that they're doing the whole extended series like that, though I expect that will continue to be a rare occurrence.

>38 PrestigeWorldWide: "I can see maybe the first three Dune books having the demand but recently read the 4th and promptly stopped the series."

That was my experience with Earthsea :) I'm planning to complete the original trilogy once they release The Farthest Shore and have absolutely no interest in continuing. I couldn't finish Tehanu, the fourth novel published well after the original trilogy. I suspect I'm not the only one, and expect at least some demand drop off after the third title and even more after the fourth. There might still be enough interest for Folio to keep going and sell plenty of copies of the later 3 books, of course.

>37 strangenews: But it now seems that, with Earthsea at least, it was ultimately more to do with a commercial calculation.

I'm pretty sure Earthsea rights were a complicated issue in the past. Back in 2016 Library of America said "It's unlikely that we'll be publishing the Earthsea books anytime soon, for rights reasons."

Also, according to the article below, Earthsea rights were initially held by 3 different companies, which I'm sure complicated things: Parnassus Press had the rights for book 1, Simon & Schuster had the rights for books 2, 3, and 4, and HMH had rights for books 5 and 6. Then with the acquisition of the Parnassus Press HMH got book 1 as well. In 2012 S&S and HMH had to come to terms in order to issue the whole series together.
https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/childrens/childrens-book-news/artic...

The rights situation must have evolved since, with Saga Press, an imprint of S&S doing the whole series again all by themselves and Folio committing to a series now.